Drug Bust (ver 2.03)

(Updated on 08/24/04)

Author

File Description

PuzzleMan

Posted on 03/28/00 @ 12:00 AM

File Details

Version:

Age of Kings

Style:

Puzzle

In the dark of night you land your elite federal force on the remote, treacherous island being used by international drug lords for clandestine meetings. You will face guard dogs, bodyguard patrols, tower defenses, and land mines as you attempt to eliminate the drug lords one by one before they can get to their prearranged meeting.

This scenario will test your strategic battling skills (primarily because of it's built in time factor) and it may test your knowledge of the AoK units' battling capabilities.
At it's heart though, it remains primarily a puzzle.

Drug Bust (ver 2.03), edited and resubmitted in August 2004, is a puzzle, a RPS. History, story and characters are fiction; the events take place on an island, somewhere off the North American west coast. You have a federal elite force under your command, your mission to take out drug lords one by one before they get to a well-fortified and guarded meeting place.

PLAYABILITY: The playability was, simply put, awesome, truly a great scenario. It was a lot of fun playing, to try different sequences busting the drug lords, which gives the scenario a high replay value. You will certainly enjoy this well thought out puzzle, it comes with exploding booby traps, wild and trained wolves, guards, regenerating towers, landmines, patrol guards, galleons attacking your land forces from the sea and computer generated units. In addition, you face time constraints, if the player does not succeed within the time limits, the scenario gets harder, which adds to the game play and has interesting aspects. You can still win with one drug lord at the meeting, to win after two drug lords left for the meeting demands an extra puzzle to solve, and did you succeed to make four guards change to your side? 5+

BALANCE: I played the scenario on moderate and hard and the balance is perfect. It is a puzzle, yes, and a very demanding one by itself and in terms of balance. It requires micromanagement and a good knowledge of AoK, it is challenging and you will not complain about missing reloads. You need a lot of strategy and have to save very often, the enemy outnumbers you with computer-generated units and watch your trebuchets; you need them until the very end. 5

CREATIVITY: The scenario is full of new ideas, the basic story to bust up drug lords and exploding booby traps are new. The technical map design, which allows various strategically game play and different sequences to solve the puzzle, the timed events of drug lords leaving for the meeting, deactivating mines, interrogation, regenerating towers, the good balance all of this is very creative. Furthermore, the landmines kept me on my toes, the author created a special, intense atmosphere of danger lying ahead with various whispered warnings. 5

MAP DESIGN: The puzzle’s secrets hide also in the map; I will not spoil it and tell you details, only that it is a great technical design. The map has all for a perfect rating, elevations, terrain mix, blending, map copy, lively sea and a realistic, beautiful use of Gaia. The map shows terrain contrasts between the islands vegetation and the terrain inside of some the private estates of the drug lords due to the use of various chemicals in their laboratories (trade shops, blacksmiths). 5

STORY/INSTRUCTIONS: The objectives are clear, the hints helpful, the history section informs about the background of the mission and the story is original. Federal agents, after months of preparation, land on a remote island to take out drug lords before they meet with the ‘arbitrators’, high ranked political people that make the final decisions in a drug war. The good story develops in game with interrogations, mine deactivating by a back up team and voice acting. I liked the main character portrayal, how he leads and comments until it gets too dangerous for his taste, doubting that it is his role to die in the mission. ;) 5

OVERALL: A unique scenario, nothing comparable has been done before or after with AoK.

OBSERVATION: The author designed the scenario for original AE II, the Age of Kings. Do not spoil the playability and balance with the conquerors expansion.

IN CLOSING: Download now or miss a new genre for AoK.

PuzzleManFile Author

Posted on 03/30/05 @ 08:55 AM

"I would like to express my thanks to Tanneur99. If you ever have the opportunity to have him playtest one of your scenarios you are in for a treat. He will put you to the test by finding so many things that are not quite right that you may find yourself frustrated at times. Through repeated careful testing, trying many different approaches, his testing will reveal flaws you never imagined were present. But when you are ready to post, you will post a scenario of which you can truly be proud. Drug Bust has long been one of my personal favorites as the entire concept was original except that I borrowed the exploding buildings of Ingo Van Thiel and turned them into landmines. Now with the aid of some fine playtesting and an improved map, Drug Bust is what I wanted it to be."

VonCorgath

Posted on 01/31/07 @ 07:34 AM

Indeed this is an excellent game. The first thing I noticed was the map design which at first glance is outstanding. The shape of the island with cliffs and small forests combined with small rivers flowing into the sea was very good and pleasant to the eye.

Creative use of voice acting greatly enhances the already tense story, and at every turn new challenges arise, forcing you to make some quick decisions - some of which may or may not be good ones.

At times very challenging, you can be sure that you will enjoy every minute, with the occasional comic relief bringing a laugh amongst your tense sweating. Think you can bust the Drug Lords in the act?

Great Work!

i like cheese

Posted on 02/05/07 @ 08:14 PM

This makes me think of of the movie Scarface.

Can't wait to play!

Sword_of_STORMOfficial Reviewer

Posted on 02/25/07 @ 12:38 PM

Nice game, but doesn't look realistic.

tacticzz

Posted on 11/26/08 @ 10:22 AM

What settings should we start out with?

Tanneur99Official Reviewer

Posted on 11/28/08 @ 10:14 AM

It is original Age of Kings where you cannot change settings. Click the game and it plays with the settings the author intended.

PossidonOfficial Reviewer

Posted on 04/13/10 @ 12:53 PM

Rating

4.8

Breakdown

Playability

4.0

Balance

5.0

Creativity

5.0

Map Design

5.0

Story/Instructions

5.0

Drug Bust is a scenario set on an island just off the coast of America. You and your team have to infiltrate the Island and kill the Drug Lords from the seven different Drug Smuggling Companies.

Playability: 4
Drug Bust is a clever and really funny scenario. It is a puzzle scenario which means you don’t infiltrate the island in one full throttle, bloodthirsty attack. The scenario is quite fun and interesting but I don’t find it as fun as others I have played. I found it a bit boring at points. It is a scenario which can be played again and it is very creative but I still didn’t enjoy it as much as others I’ve played.

Balance: 5
Drug Bust is a perfectly balanced game. It is a puzzle scenario and it involves you using different tactics, battle strategies and a knowledge of AOK in order to complete the game. The game is very challenging and hard but not impossible. You need to save often and maybe take a few restarts. You only have a small number of units but you have a monk to heal them and a powerful Hero. The balance of the game is perfect.

Creativity: 5
Drug Bust is an extremely creative scenario. Not many tricks were discovered when it was made back in 2000 and it isn’t made with the expansion pack either. The idea of being a Special Ops team and infiltrating an island full of Drug Lords is very creative and clever. The scenario has a great story and uses some great trigger tricks. It also has a great and fully detailed map design of a North Atlantic Island, which is the base and meeting place of the Drug lords. I also liken the names of the teams, which are the different Drug Smuggling Companies; I especially like Crack R Us. The game also has some cool sound effects and a custom AI.

Map Design: 5
Drug Bust is set on an island which is the base and meeting place of the seven Drug Lords. The island is really detailed and beautifully designed. It is covered in beautiful elevation and lots of cool cliffs. There is some great terrain mixing and awesome Eye-Candy. The map is also covered is wonderful GAIA Objects. All of the terrains, objects, units and buildings all blend together nicely and look fantastic.

Story/Instructions: 5
Drug Bust has a very interesting story. It is creative, clever, fun and interesting. It keeps the game going and makes the player want to continue even if the scenario does get a bit boring. The game has some funny dialog and is very clever and original. The Instructions are clear and easy to follow. They help you get through the scenario and there is also a great Hints page which will help if you get really stuck

Additional Comments:
Drug Bust is a great scenario which is highly enjoyable and deserves a place up high in the list of top rated scenarios. 4.8/5.0